


distantly, you hear him

by InkWitch (serkestic)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5114723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serkestic/pseuds/InkWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mars was really far way, but Shouyou still felt close. </p><p>[A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_of_a_Distant_Star">ほしのこえ Voices of a Distant Star</a> AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	distantly, you hear him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [themorninglark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/gifts).



> Okay, to be frank, this was not planned. But I think it's an appropriate gift for the girl who's crushed me and repaired me within the same story so, so many times. ♥ I can only hope to reach that level of emotional capacity in this.
> 
>  **Happy birthday, lark.** You deserve all the gen KenHina  <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I watched Hoshi no Koe a while ago and I definitely improvised stuff, plotwise and worldbuildingwise. Still, I hope that adds rather than takes away from the AU.

From: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
To: Kozume Kenma <darkalley_cat@docomo.ne.jp>  
Subject: _The view is great!!_  
it’s incredible up here, kenma! the world looks like someone dumped blue and white paint on a canvas and swirled it with a mop. and it’s so BIG!! i didn’t expect it to be so big-looking… i thought it would look smaller from above. but its HUGE

Subject: _No subject_  
That sounds cool. Planets are supposed to be large, Shouyou.

Subject: _are you being sassy rn_  
i’m only on the moon tho. we’re being shipped out in a few days, i’m so excited!! recruits are working in pairs for the moment and my partner is this really pissed-off looking guy who keeps nagging at my flying skills. i’m an incredible flier!

Subject: _Yeah_  
You are. I wasn’t being sassy before.

Subject: _lol_  
mars is going to be really awesome. i know i should be scared bc i’ll be seeing tarsians up close (well, sort of) for the first time and i’m only a recruit but, i don’t think i am. scared, i mean. i’m looking forward to see what the world looks like from mars!!

Subject: _No subject_  
Mars is really far away. Be careful, wherever you go.

 

* * *

 

On September 16, 2047, the junior recruits for Strike 15 Team in the UN Space Army landed on the surface of Mars and entered the Rim Station for the first time. The sun was setting on Mars at the time and the recruits caught the first glimpse of a famous view as they took off their gear.

Kenma looked to the sky and wondered what the view was like where Shouyou was. He was sitting outside the gym, leaned up against a bench, and drinking orange juice that he’d got out of the vending machine. The loud slaps of volleyballs hitting the gym floor echoed out from behind him.

He drained the rest of his juice and pulled out his phone, tangled as it was with the earphones in his pocket. He shook off the earphones and the phone screen lit up. There was a new message on the screen.

He swiped it open and an image filled his screen. The photograph was of a window looking out at a sunset, the silver panes set as if framing a picture; the hills were cast dark and mysterious against a luminescent silver sun, supernatural blue staining the sky and horizon near it. It was an awesome sight. Like nothing from this world. Kenma saved the photo and swiped left. Shouyou’s text popped up.

_my first sunset on mars. it’s probably alrd tomorrow for you, but here i am. i’m here!_

Kenma put his phone on his thigh and tilted his head back to look at the sky again. In the gym, Kuroo yelled at someone to pick up the balls faster and there was a resounding chorus of “ _yes_!” that hung in the air with its volume. The sky was reddish orange and the clouds pale yellow; a warmer sunset than Shouyou’s silver land.

Mars was really far way, but Shouyou still felt close. Kenma smiled.

He raised his phone, turning on the camera as he did, and focused it on the sun-stained sky. The photo taken turned out pretty good, the focal point of it on a cloud shaped like a bird with a large brain. He emailed it.

_We still have the same sun. It looks cooler where you are._

 

* * *

 

From: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
To: Kozume Kenma <darkalley_cat@docomo.ne.jp>  
Subject: _24 hours and 33 minutes_  
i asked kiyoko-san (she’s an assistant manager here, in admin) how long it takes for texts from mars to go to earth and that’s how long! an entire day, can you believe it? and it only takes seconds if we’re both on earth. that’s sounds so bizarre, doesn’t it?

Subject: _No subject_  
I guess, but it makes sense. Satellites are further apart in between Mars and Earth. How’s training going?

Subject: _ > < ehhh_  
alright. we did more fun things on the moon tho. we’re sticking to land training now, bc kiyoko-san says it's important for us to relearn the gravity on this planet. it's important but it's also super BORING! we’re going scouting in a few weeks tho!!!!!! i’m so excited

Subject: _No subject_  
Take a picture of a Tarsian.

Subject: _is that a dare????_  
lol yeah i’ll do that… if i want to DIE. kiyoko-san would disembowel me, even before the captain finds out… and i don't want to know what the captain would do to me. we got news of our first expedition today: in two weeks! i’ll be out of touch during then, so you’ll know i’m fighting tarsians :D

Subject: _Take care_  
Two weeks later, huh? Good luck, then. And no, it wasn’t a dare; don’t get killed.

 

* * *

 

The problem with people, Kenma thought, was that too much went into being around them. Too much energy, too much thought, too much observation. If he was free to be left in a corner, able to choose whether he should be speak to the people around him or should he just drink this wonderful apple-flavoured jello that Kuroo swore up and down had no alcohol in it, he was good with people. He could quietly study the patterns of laughter and noise and recede into the comfortable quiet of his own mind. Given that option, Kenma was pretty okay with people.

Unfortunately, that option flew right out the window when you were the center of attention. This was one of the reasons that Kenma didn’t like being thought ‘special’ (the other reason was that it took too much effort) because when you’re the focus of everybody’s attention, there’s no escape and no relief. When it’s your birthday, it’s your obligation to deal with people.

Lev chanted _happy birthday_ drunkenly, sprawling half his weight on Kenma’s shoulders, while Yaku guided Kenma’s hand on the knife and cut the cake in front of him. The candles hadn’t even been blown out yet. Kenma had the slightest suspicion that he’d been lied to because his face was very hot and he felt heavier than usual; but there was no point in looking at Kuroo because he was drunker than anyone else there.

Kenma sighed as the song came to a loud and off-tune finish. His friends burst into laughter and blew out his candles themselves, leaving him to wonder if he was still allowed to claim his wish. Everybody pushed forward to get cake; Kenma pulled out from the middle, now that the attention had been shifted. He ignored Kuroo’s whiny yell of indignation when he shoved him into Yaku’s back as he passed Kuroo by.

Stepping out of the heated room was incredibly soothing. There was a cold bite to the air that stung Kenma’s cheeks, but he welcomed it eagerly. He rested his head against the door and closed his eyes, just standing there and feeling the coolness of the weather.

His back pocket vibrated.

The sky was dark and cloudy, only one or two distant stars twinkling in the clear patches. Kenma watched the darkness as he brought out his phone and swiped it open. It was an email with an audio file attached. His curiosity was peaked.

He opened Shouyou’s mail. The words HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KENMA!!!!!! was surrounded by several kaomojis and asterisks. The energy conveyed by simple letters was overwhelming, and yet Kenma couldn’t help smiling a little as he scrolled through Shouyou’s kaomoji story, illustrating how Shouyou would wish him if they were face-to-face. It involved bear tackles and a cat meowing, probably. He tapped the attachment open and held his phone to his ear.

“…!” Static crackled for a few seconds and then a laugh echoed. “Kenmaaa! Can you hear me? Guess where I am?!”

Shouyou laughed, his voice impressively real in Kenma’s ear. Someone in the background - up there, with Shouyou - cursed softly and called him an idiot. “Relax, Kageyama, senpai promised to cover for us! Anyway, happy birthday, Kenma!! I’m in the central dome of the station, where recruits are _technically_ not allowed. But I convinced Suga-senpai to let us in anyway! Yes, of course I used you as an excuse, don’t judge!”

A door slammed, the sound echoing behind Shouyou’s voice. He huffed and spoke quieter. “I wanted to sing you the happy birthday song, but I wanted it to be special, you know? It’s not like I can send you a gift from here… I wish you here though, this place is so cool, you wouldn’t believe! I’ll savour my time here because Suga-senpai’s _never_ letting me back here.” He laughed again.

Kenma watched the distant stars reveal themselves, one at a time.

“Anyway, here’s your birthday gift: me singing to you in this _huge_ dome with the most incredible acoustics _ever_!! You better appreciate it!”

Despite the acoustics, Shouyou’s voice was soft as he sang the words _happy birthday to you_. Kenma closed his eyes and pressed the phone closer to his ear; he could almost picture standing next to Shouyou as he sang. He was relieved he wasn’t, in reality; he’d never have known what to do.

Shouyou’s voice had trailed off mid-song. For a few seconds, all Kenma could hear was his own breathing, dissipating into the air, and Shouyou’s, in the curl of his ear.

“…Hey.”

It was the quietest he’d ever heard Shouyou be. The track ended there.

The phone’s screen had gone to sleep by the time Kenma opened his eyes again. Out here, he felt loose and light, like he could float. When he would go back in, his friends would chorus _happy birthday_ to him all over again, giggling and tripping over themselves. Kuroo would tuck into his side and drunkenly apologize into his cheek, semi-kissing him as he falls asleep.

That quiet _hey_ rang in Kenma’s head. It felt bittersweet and he disliked that.

He went back to his friends once the email had been sent. The regret in his stomach was gone.

_Hey back. Thank you for your gift; I’m going to save it and keep it in my hard drive. I hope you don’t get into trouble. I wish you were here._

 

* * *

 

From: Kozume Kenma <darkalley_cat@docomo.ne.jp>  
To: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
Subject: _No subject_  
I heard about the Lysithea mission. Congratulations for getting picked; it sounds like you’re getting to do exactly what you dreamed. There was a photograph of you and your teammates in the paper today. Is the guy with the sulky mouth your partner during training? He looks intense.

Subject: _No subject_  
It was my last volleyball match today. We won. Everybody congratulated me, but I didn’t think that we did anything special. We played like it was any other day.

Subject: _New address_  
I’m changing my email address. Lev found out and won’t stop mailing me pictures of random cats in trees. How does he even find so many. Email me at ksquared@docomo.ne.jp from now on.

From: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
To: Kozume Kenma <ksquared@docomo.ne.jp>  
Subject: _CONGRATS!!_  
waaa i miss volleyball ;___; i’m happy that you enjoyed your last game; you definitely should’ve!! don’t pretend like it meant nothing >( this means you’ve graduated, by the time you get this mail. congrats on that too. do you know where you’re going after highschool? i kinda miss school too… we’re approaching the sirius system! we’ll be launched near agartha i think… but i can’t say more, since this is confidential information!! > < space is really big, kenma

Subject: _No subject_  
Do you know how long it takes for an email to come from where you are to Earth?

Subject: _puppies_  
did you know that there’s another star near the sirius? it’s call the pup >w< we saw it today and it was so… idk but it made me feel something, seeing that small star next to the sirius, not shining as bright but just as… white? it was really cool and inspiring i guess

Subject: _commence battle!_  
i’m going to be deployed soon. i’ll be working in a strike unit with kageyama and tsukishima, with yamaguchi-san as our director. kageyama and tsukishima HATE each other but they’re both smart and are good at what they do. i’ll do my best to work with them. i’ll be honest with you, kenma, i’m… excited, yeah but. i guess i’m a little anxious now too. i want to be good at this. i want to be able to do this.

Subject: _No subject_  
I don’t know about after high school. I haven’t thought too much about it, to be honest with you. There’s nothing that I really want to do but… doing nothing isn’t something I want to do either. I’m going to college. And I did have fun, in my last game. Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself more.

Subject: _more than months_  
i asked captain and that’s what he said. i guess, since we’re always moving, it’s difficult to say the exact amount of time it would take. but longer than six months, at the least. it's strange to think of you growing up while i’m… not. are you growing up faster than me? or am i growing up faster than you? i can’t tell. space and time is weird and THIS IS HURTING MY HEAD AAAA. kenma, as long as we can talk, i don’t care how long it takes for my messages to get to you.

Subject: _goodbye for a little while_  
deployment is tomorrow. i think, your birthday will be seven or eight months from now. suga-senpai helped me calculate the exact time. i hope this reaches you on your birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENMA ^U^

Subject: _No subject_  
I’ve joined bōei daigakkō. I’ve decided what I want to do.

Subject: _Hey_  
I got your mail three minutes before my birthday was over. Congratulations, you made it on time. Thank you for the wish. Don’t say goodbye yet. I’ll always be here.

 

* * *

 

Age 26 looked good on Kenma. He was tall and his back was straight (or at least, as straight as it could be after years of hunching over an electronic device). His hair was longer and tied back, usually, because it covered his neck and made him hot but he couldn’t be bothered to get a new haircut. It was still pudding though; the blonde hadn’t faded and his roots were still dark. He was unusual. He knew that attracted attention.

Even at 26, Kenma didn’t like that. But he’d learned how to use it and he had already known how to use people. He played a different kind of game now, but it involved the same strategies, if he got down to basics, and Kenma always did. There was no need to complicate things if your method worked.

He did well in daigakkō. His teachers praised his intelligence and his judicious work, and the awards and certificates he got lined the floor of his room in his parents’ house. People called him ‘special’ even more than before but now he didn’t try to fight it. He needed people to think that.

And when he was standing on a broad stage with the spotlight on him, holding an unfamiliar hand as a reward for his accomplishments, he imagined a spectre in the crowd cheering his name and welcoming him into the fold. The sound of his voice had faded in Kenma’s mind but the vibrancy was something that he’d never be able to forget.

Earth received news of a Tarsian army approaching it from the other side of the sun, a full two years away from where the Strike 15 team was sent. The world was ready to go into lockdown at any moment, but among the higher-ups, it was rumoured that they were planning on a Strike 16 and Strike 17 team to be recruited the next season. More teenagers to be trained in space combat.

Kenma turned 27 in the darkness of Kuroo’s bedroom, his head propped on his best friend’s shoulder and his mouth biting down on his hand. His phone screen glowed in the dark, as did the television screen reading out reports of the surprise Tarsian attack on the Strike 15 team and the assumed defeat and death of all pilots onboard the Lysithea. The news was delayed by five years because all messenger drones had been destroyed. The UN Space Army had employed thirty-two new recruits to be trained within a year and sent out to meet the approaching Tarsian force.

The world wasn’t holding its breath anymore.

“Kenma,” said Kuroo quietly. Kenma heard the words through vibrations. “Check your phone. You have to, at one point.”

This was true. He couldn’t ignore what could be Shouyou’s last words. He wasn’t foolish enough to deny the possibility of _last words_.

But, he didn’t want to, he didn’t want this.

Kuroo put the phone in his hand and swiped it open. Kenma’s fingers blindly opened his unread emails.

_that’s good to know. i’ll always be here too._

And the next.

_you won’t believe this but i defeated an entire team of tarsians!!!!! well, my strike team did but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!! i did it_

Kenma opened the next faster.

_we’re going further than agartha. hey kenma, i just wanted to tell you something. you’ll get this a lot later but. i’m really glad we met. while we got to play volleyball together, i had so much fun. and you’re a very good friend. i don’t think i talk this much with anyone else, and i’m years away from you. you should know that you’re important to me._

Last.

_there’s an alarm._

Kenma closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

From: Kozume Kenma <ksquared@docomo.ne.jp>  
To: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
Subject: _The sky is darker_  
The sun is there as always, but somehow the sky looks like the light isn’t there. All the blues and indigoes are the wrong shade. People are saying it’s because of the warped ecology, with all our resources being channelled into the building of new spaceships.

Subject: _Three years_  
That’s how long it’s taking my mail to reach you. Kuroo says it's pointless to send mail if the lag is that long. I think it doesn’t matter when you read it. As long as you read it.

Subject: _Launch_  
Strike 16 Team has been sent out. I heard your team is still being sent updates. Come to the rescue, like you’ve always wanted to.

Subject: _On the moon_  
I’ve been employed as a pattern analyst and cryptographer. The world does look big, but it was supposed to anyway. There are lots of lights on it; well, it’s nighttime on the side that I’m looking at.

Subject: _Shouyou_  
You know what I’m doing, don’t you?

Subject: _No subject_  
Can you hear me?  
♬ attached audio file “crows.m4a”

 

* * *

 

He held his phone up high above his head, stretching. From a distance, he looked like he was trying to get cell reception. A few passing people eyed him but he ignored them and kept his eyes steadily upward.

The crows cawed louder at him. Probably protesting his presence so near their newborns. He wasn’t an idiot though, he was a full five feet away from the tree: but the parents sat on telephone wires near him and screeched anxiously, worried about this unknown entity so focused on them. Kenma took pity on them five seconds later and brought his phone down: 10 seconds had passed on the recording.

“Shouyou,” he sighed. It came out a lot wearier than he wanted but he rolled with it. “There’s something I need to tell you. I don’t think you’re dead.”

He had planned this out in his head. He had even chosen this spot specifically, because it was quiet but there was a hum of life in it; you could hear people’s voices, the thrum of car engines as they drove past, the calling of birds, the hush of the branches. A few days earlier, sitting next to Kuroo and watching people be loud at a birthday party Kenma didn’t even want to claim, he had thought it all out. In _his_ absence, Kenma could be the constant.

He would sound like the miraculous light of hope at the very end of a level, right before the unbeatable boss you knew was waiting for you. He would be the conveniently placed chest in a dark corner; the checkpoint to save at, to rest.

But in execution, he just sounded tired. And slightly sad.

“I don’t think you’re dead, but the world doesn’t agree with me.” _No reason to believe_ , they had said, _no evidence to suggest that any of them have survived. We have greater concerns_. Kenma shut his eyes and bent over, his phone cupped close to his mouth. “Give us a sign, Shouyou. We’re about to go fighting the biggest battle yet and you know you want to be here.”

A crow flew right over him, scuffing Kenma’s head and cawing loudly. He glanced up.

The smallest bird jumped onto the nest’s edge and tottered. The parents circled it and cawed even louder, dubious as to whether in support or in fear.

Kenma saved the recording and attached it to his email draft. His finger pressed send as the small crow started flapping.

_Hey Shouyou. You should see this._

He watched quietly.

_Shouyou._

Kenma’s inhale froze.

_Give me a sign._

The crow jumped and hung in the air. It rose into the sky slowly, its parents following in a spiral.

And Kenma’s phone started buzzing.

 

* * *

 

From: Hinata Shouyou <hinasho@ezweb.ne.jp>  
To: Kozume Kenma <ksquared@docomo.ne.jp>  
Subject: _No subject_  
i think we’re stranded?

Subject: _No subject_  
everybody’s alive. the ship’s been destroyed.

Subject: _No subject_  
we’re on an unknown planet…

Subject: _No subject_  
i don’t even know if these emails are being sent. ALL THE MESSENGER DRONES ARE GONE. THIS IS FRUSTRATING.

Subject: _No subject_  
we’re building a new ship from our tracers. i don’t know if we’re going to live or die. kenma if you get these emails tell someone.

Subject: _No subject_  
i just realized… none of these emails are sending. we don’t have reception out here. there are no more satellites, that’s why all our communications are down. i’m basically emailing the void.

Subject: _No subject_  
i know it’s taking years for these to reach you and i don't know if we’re even the same age anymore. but you and i have a promise, right? we can’t stop being friends after being there for each other for SO LONG. i know you’re still believing in me.

Subject: _No subject_  
WE’RE FLYING

Subject: _No subject_  
i can see the world. it’s so tiny, kenma.

 

* * *

 

On October 29th, 2061, Kenma boarded the Dionysus as part of the rescue crew to meet the survivors from the Lysithea mission. In a state of high emergency, all preparations were being taken rapidly and material possessions were not allowed onboard. So he sent his last email to Shouyou before dropping his phone into the plastic box, lost from view in seconds.

_We’re going to meet again, right?_

 


End file.
